Courage to Love (Flynn Family Saga) by Graham Erica

Author:Graham, Erica [Graham, Erica]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Margaret Tobey
Published: 2012-05-07T07:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TEN

Maggie's mouth fell open. She came around the table and hugged the young woman who had helped her nurse two dozen girls and a handful of women through the smallpox outbreak at Lois Banks' Boarding School. "What are you doing here? I thought you were getting married."

Elizabeth smiled wryly. "So did I. But my fiancé took one look at me and broke the engagement." Her smile faded slowly, and she looked away. "And then my father threw me out of his house. He said I was no use to him anymore."

Maggie squeezed her hands. "Well, I could use a friend right now."

Elizabeth looked back at Maggie, one delicate eyebrow raised questioningly. "I thought you were getting married, too. Where is Flynn?"

Maggie sighed. "It's a long story, and I'm hungry. Come on. I'll treat you to dinner at my folks' house."

Elizabeth looked scared. "I don't want to be a bother."

Maggie shook her head. "It's no bother. We always have room for one more."

Together they walked to Sam and Kate's house. When the door opened, Kate looked surprised.

"Mama, this is Elizabeth Barclay. She helped me when smallpox hit your cousin's school."

Kate smiled and embraced Elizabeth. "Welcome. Maggie told me how hard you worked. Please come in. We were just about to sit down to dinner."

Frank was in the kitchen, banging pots and pans on the stove. "Ow! Guldurn it! I always do that."

Elizabeth laid a hand on Maggie's arm. "What's going on in there? It sounds like someone's committing murder."

Maggie laughed. "That's just Frank Lennox. He's the cook on the wagon train. Come on. I'll introduce you to him." She led the way to the kitchen. "Frank, there's someone I'd like you to meet. Frank Lennox, this is Elizabeth Barclay."

The breeze from the kitchen window blew Elizabeth's veil off her head and onto the floor, revealing her face.

Frank stared at her.

Elizabeth stiffened. "What are you staring at? Haven't you ever seen anyone who had smallpox before?"

"Did you? Oh, yeah. I guess you did. That's not what I was staring at. I didn't notice at first. I was looking at your eyes."

"My eyes?"

"Yeah. They're blue."

Elizabeth sighed in exasperation. "I know they're blue, Mr. Lennox."

"But what I bet you don't know is that they look exactly like the Montana sky at twilight." He shook his head. "Yes sir, I never saw such pretty eyes. Oh. Sorry. You're probably married."

Elizabeth's mouth twitched. "As a matter of fact, I'm not, Mr. Lennox."

"Call me Frank. Everybody does."

Elizabeth smiled warmly at him. "All right, Frank."

Frank bent and picked up her veil. He held it out to her. She took it. She started to place it over her face again. Then, she stopped. She folded it and tucked it into her reticule.

Finally, dinner was ready. Sam sat at one end of the table, and Kate sat at the other. Elizabeth sat next to Frank, and Ben sat next to Maggie.

Ben glanced at Elizabeth and looked away quickly. "Introduce me to your friend, Frank."

"Ben, this is Elizabeth Barclay. Elizabeth, this is Ben Brewster.

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